The Iowa Gallery

The Iowa Gallery, located on the mezzanine level, is the room that served as the furnished art gallery of the historic Des Moines Public Library.

Today, the Iowa Gallery is designed to tell the story of Iowa’s extensive and varied agricultural and humanitarian heritage, as well as the pride Iowans feel for their role in “feeding the world.” To preserve these marvelous stories for future generations, the World Food Prize commissioned a total of 20 new original works of art by Iowa artists to be displayed in the Iowa Gallery.

Artwork in the room includes several paintings of these great Iowans depicting their work, drawings of all the Iowans who have served as U.S. Secretary of Agriculture or chair of the Agriculture Committee, and art depicting other great Iowa humanitarian stories, such as the Yamanashi Hog Lift, Iowa SHARES refugee work, and visits from the Pope and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev.